comparecer Imperfect Conjugation
comparecer — to appear
Comparecer is regular in the imperfect: comparecía, comparecías, comparecía.
comparecer Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this for habitual appearances in the past or to describe the background of a situation (e.g., 'He was appearing when...').
Notes on comparecer in the Imperfect
This tense is fully regular. Just add the -ía endings to the infinitive stem.
Example Sentences
Él comparecía cada mes ante el tribunal.
He used to appear every month before the court.
él/ella/usted
Mientras comparecían, la prensa esperaba afuera.
While they were appearing, the press waited outside.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Nosotros comparecíamos siempre a la misma hora.
We used to appear always at the same time.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'í'.
Correct: comparecía
Why: All imperfect endings for -er verbs require an accent on the 'i'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: comparezco
Comparecer has a 'z' in the 'yo' form (comparezco) but is otherwise a regular -er verb.
Preterite
yo: comparecí
Comparecer is completely regular in the preterite: comparecí, compareciste, compareció.
Future
yo: compareceré
Comparecer is regular in the future; simply add the endings to the full infinitive.
Conditional
yo: comparecería
The conditional of comparecer is regular: comparecería, comparecerías, etc.
Present Subjunctive
yo: comparezca
All forms of the present subjunctive for comparecer use the 'zc' stem: comparezca, comparezcas, etc.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: compareciera
Formed from the 'ellos' preterite, results in compareciera, comparecieras, etc.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: comparece
The imperative uses 'comparece' for 'tú' and the 'zc' forms for formal commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no comparezcas
The negative imperative always uses the 'zc' subjunctive forms: no comparezcas, no comparezca.